


Feather and Cloth

by mllelaurel



Category: Sekirei
Genre: Gen, ficlet tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-24
Updated: 2012-07-24
Packaged: 2017-11-10 13:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mllelaurel/pseuds/mllelaurel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuu notices more than people think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feather and Cloth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nevacaruso](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nevacaruso).



U-chan’s closet is stuffed full of bins and boxes, some stacked on top of one another. Some labeled, others blank. Frilly dresses hang from the hooks on the walls. Kuu sticks out her tongue in frustration. If she picks one now, it means she can’t wear the rest. 

Uzume laughs when she tells her, pushes away a box labeled ‘naughty,’ full of leather and straps. “Who says you have to pick one?” she says. “That’s what tomorrow’s for: all the rest of the costumes.” She sounds wistful, when she says ‘tomorrow.’ Kuu wraps her arms around the older girl’s waist and hangs on, burying her face in Uzume’s stomach. 

“Oh, hey, what did I say, what did I do?” 

Kuu shakes her head, eyes squinted shut. “Nonono, you’re not making me sad.” And it’s true, she doesn’t feel sad. Just warm and concerned. Uzume had sounded scared and lonely, just then, and Kuu knows what those feel like, but she also knows that lonely and scared are things adults don’t like admitting to. 

Uzume ruffles her hair. “Wait till you’re taller, then your face would wind up right in my boobs.” 

Taller seems years and years away, as far as Kuu is concerned. Sometimes, she wishes she weren’t so little, with the adult world just out of reach. Maybe then, she could really help everyone. She does her best now, but it’s hard. The others don’t always tell her everything. Niichan tells her he feels the same way sometimes, but it’s not the same. He’s an adult, even if he’s not a sekirei. 

“How do you have all these costumes, anyway?” Because sometimes asking is a part of learning. 

Uzume grins, and maybe Kuu did more right than she thought, because she’s distracted now, no longer sad. “I make ‘em,” she says.

Kuu’s seen Miya-san patching holes in an old kimono, slender needle darting in and out, her face far away. “Does it take a long time?” she asks. 

“Nope!” Uzume reaches in and pulls out a box. Once the top comes off, Kuu can see that it’s full of colorful fabrics. “Watch this.” She closes her eyes, her lips soundlessly forming words, and a bolt of grey fabric rises into the air. The edges fray, threads weaving themselves loose, until the piece is just the right size. Kuu peeks and sees that Uzume’s eyes are now squinted open. Sides of the cloth come together and blend, seamless. Zippers and stuffing insert themselves where they are needed. 

It’s really cool. “I wish I could do that,” Kuu says. Though maybe that’s why U-chan doesn’t want to fight. Because her powers are not made for combat. 

Uzume flips` a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Yeah, well, I wish I could grow trees, so we’re even, ne? Here, try this on.” 

The costume she’d made is just Kuu’s size, a soft grey bird. There are little feather details on the wings. Kuu strokes her fingers over them, almost afraid that the little bird would spook and take flight. 

“It’s a wagtail,” Uzume says,” zipping her up in the back. “A sekirei.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on livejournal for a drabble meme, in 2011.


End file.
